Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

- Season 1

(2002)

Summer is almost over and Sasshi learns his close friend Arumi is moving soon. To make matters worse, recent developments have put many of the local shops out of business and a new shopping area is on the way. There seems to be something behind it, but Sasshi and Arumi soon find that they aren't in Osaka anymore, and instead, have suddenly been transported to a strange and magical world.

Sasshi and Arumi find themselves in what appears to be a Western-style fairytale castle, with Papan (Arumi's dad) as the King and Ms. Aki as the Queen. They ask the young kids to slay a vicious demon and they give them some gold coins to buy equipment. Unfortunately, Arumi spends all of the coins to buy an amulet and Sasshi is continuously killed and revived, because he has no weapons. However, the amulet becomes effective when they face the demon, the last boss: it makes him grow a...big bust and then explode! The demon turns into a little "oni" (demon of Japanese ...

Sasshi and Arumi, instead of going back home, are transported to a Sci-Fi version of the Abenobashi shopping center. They find the Abeno Angels (who are really Mune-Mune, Sasshi's older sister Sayaka and Ms. Aki), a trio of scantily-clad space heroines who moonlight as Space Pirates! Sasshi and Arumi become pilots of a giant robot, followed by Masa-ji (as the old professor who never does anything) and Papan (as a robot), to defeat the oni who stole Arumi's panties and turned into a giant enemy robot! References to almost every cult giant robot and sci-fi anime series ...

At the end of the previous episode Sasshi and Arumi were transported in a Chinese version of Abenobashi. This Abenobashi features Kohei selling tacky pirated merchandising and a dojo led by a giant panda! Mune-Mune tricks Sasshi into participating to a martial arts tournament, a part of the ongoing feud between the Pelican Family and the Turtle Family. However Sasshi doesn't know any martial arts: how will he defeat the champion (and only other participant of the tournament...) Papan and win the prize?

Sasshi and Arumi thought for sure that they were going back home this time, but that's just not to be. Instead, they find themselves in a prehistoric version of their home, complete with the usual cast of strange relatives that they have grown accustomed to seeing. But, they soon have more problems when they are on the run from the natives and trying to get a baby dinosaur back to his family.

Arumi and Sasshi find themselves in a nocturnal, fog-ridden Abenobashi that seems to come out from some 1930s hard boiled novel. There is a war between the police forces, led by Sasshi's grandpa, and the mafia, led by Masayuki, who has control of the Pelican Grill and successfully smuggles...snails. Sasshi is mistaken for a legendary sniper and forced to become part of the mafia, while Arumi becomes a policewoman with other two agents Mune-Mune and Sayaka. Papan shows up as the real sniper and calls Sasshi an impostor: after some challenges, Sasshi is declared the ...

There aren't any wacky themes here. Instead, it's a more somber look at how the magical shopping arcade was born, as told from those that were there some 50 years ago. It doesn't explain what's going on in Arumi and Sasshi's case, however, but it reveals some other important information.

Sasshi and Arumi think the made it home this time only to find out the are in the real life equivalent of a dating simulation video game.

Arumi has left Sasshi out of pure frustration; probably because she looks like a goblin and probably due to the fact that she's grown to over 50 feet high, but that's beside the point. Eutus, however, has agreed to help Sasshi get back home and reveals the truth to him, as well as their karmic connection. He decides to allow Sasshi to become a Onmyou apprentice, but the help he's going to receive from Eutus is going to be more than minimal.

Determined to find the perfect place that will make Arumi happy, and where he won't have to deal with his grandfather's death, Sasshi puts the two of them in a fairy tale world, but Arumi isn't happy at all. She's even less pleased when a giant teddy bear attacks the land and she's forced to take on the guise of a magic girl, complete with magic baton and annoying animal sidekick.

After the troubles of the amusement park, Sasshi and Armui are now at war.

The two kids now find themselves in a world of Sasshi's favorite movies. He really enjoys the big Hollywood movies, from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Monty Python. Its all here and more inside Sasshi movie-land.

Arumi and Sasshi have finally made there way home. But Arumi's grandfather will still be dead. Sasshi refuses to let that happen, so he jumps again into another world. But in the end he cannot dream away reality.